How Company Culture is Costing You Quality Candidates

Company culture.

It's the perfect kind of HR catchphrase to make stakeholders tune out. But in 2019, company culture is going to force everyone with influence at your organization to tune IN.

Pop Quiz!

Is a lousy company culture impacting your hard-fought recruitment?

• Do candidates talk about your reputation as a reason they're interested in the job?
• Are current employees offering up a lot of referrals for open positions?
• Do you offer opportunities for professional development?
• Is your employee retention rate good for your industry?

If you answered 'No' to any of these, your company needs to start looking at how to improve its culture.

Time for a Culture Review

A lousy company culture will scare off great candidates (yes, they will pick up on the bad vibes), relentlessly chip away at employee engagement and eventually skyrocket employee turnover. More than ever before, employees are in the driver's seat, so if your company isn't taking wants, needs and preferences into consideration, get ready for a mass exit for employers that will.

Nervous? Here's what may be making your company culture a lousy one:

• Employees don't feel supported or listened to
• Expectations aren't clear
• Positive feedback is rare, "thank you" isn't a popular phrase
• Employee satisfaction isn't being measured or responded to
• Communication among different levels of employees is discouraged; closed-door policy is the norm
• Innovating outside of standard-operating-procedure is seen as disruptive or annoying
• Negative reviews keep popping up on sites like Glassdoor and Indeed
• Employees are catty, negative and disengaged from their work

Why Company Culture Matters

According to a 2018 Robert Half study, “Organizational Culture: The Make-or-Break Factor in Hiring and Retention," 35 percent of Americans wouldn't accept a job at a company that had a bad culture, even if the position were a perfect fit. And although the trend of empowered job hunter continues to rise, many companies still haven't gotten the message that great cultures will yield great outcomes. A recent 2018 Global Culture Report by O.C.Tanner shows that companies that embrace six key cultural factors (purpose, leadership, well being, appreciation, success and opportunity,) experience:

• Higher encouragement: four times more than other companies
• Increased revenue: 74 percent higher likelihood of increased revenue from the previous year
• More innovative experience: seven times more likely to have employees innovating and performing great work
• Fewer layoffs: 11 times less likely to experience layoffs in the past year
• Positive employees: four times more likely to have employees who would recommend their company to others

Quick Tips - How to Make a Good Impression on Candidates

It's easy for candidates to take a pulse on your culture. All they need to do is Google, and if they're lucky, they'll know someone at your company already who can give them inside information. Of course it's most important to actually have a great culture, but that's closely followed by promoting it to the outside world. Here are some quick tips for flashing your "great culture" card to potential employees:

• Your company website talks about serving the community or supporting a value that's central to your mission, sustainability, training or promoting from within
• Your company social media channels show personality beyond businesses
• Digital reviews on sites like Glassdoor and Indeed are good, and any negative reviews are responded to appropriately by your company
• Job descriptions have a friendly tone and include news mentions, awards your company has won or particularly popular benefits, such as great work-life balance, paid maternity/paternity leave or superior health benefits
• Hiring mangers know exactly what to say at job fairs or networking events when people ask about what it's like to work there

Company culture is such a huge topic it can be difficult to take in. Things like employee surveys, easy employee onboarding and robust plans for continued learning and career mapping contribute to employee satisfaction and ultimately, your culture. Human resources software can eliminate the guesswork of solidifying your company culture - give ours a try with a free demo.

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